Ed Sheeran's Weird Game of Thrones Cameo Was the Worst Kind of Cameo

Thinking out loud about the most distracting celebrity cameo in Game of Thrones history.

We knew this was coming. Back in May, Ed Sheeran revealed that he would turn up in a cameo in Game of Thrones Season Seven. He even spoiled the line of dialogue that Arya would speak when she met him—which was not, sadly, "Oh good, it’s Ed Sheeran, the next name on my list."

Now, Sheeran has actually appeared in Game of Thrones, and he wasn't lying about the brevity of his appearance. He's not the next Ramsay Bolton, or Daenerys' heretofore-unrevealed little brother, or some late-breaking entrant in the struggle for the Iron Throne. He's just some random Lannister soldier with a single spoken line of dialogue.

And after spending the morning thinking out loud about it, I am comfortable saying Ed Sheeran's cameo... was bad. It wasn’t really Ed Sheeran’s fault. He was given so little to do that he couldn’t really bungle it in any meaningful way. But it was a reminder that cameos need to be handled judiciously, because the mere sight of a familiar celebrity can pull you right out of a TV show.

Game of Thrones has a staggering array of high-profile celebrity fans—Jennifer Lopez, Mindy Kaling, Kumail Nanjiani, Josh Gad—who might be delighted to show up for a cameo. But until now, Game of Thrones has always been pretty judicious about the famous faces that actually appear on the show. Many of Game of Thrones’ biggest actors—Emilia Clarke, Kit Harington, Maisie Williams, et al.—were totally unknown when the show premiered. And when Game of Thronesdid cast a bigger name, it also served a second, meta-textual purpose, falsely signaling to the audience that the show’s more famous faces would probably be safer. Part of the reason Ned Stark’s death was so shocking was that it seemed insane for Game of Thrones, in its infancy, to kill off the biggest actor in the cast.

As soon as Ed Sheeran appears, the subtext of the scene isn’t "Will Arya realize that her worldview will gradually turn her into what she's always hated?" It’s, "Hey! That's Ed Sheeran!"

But when it comes to celebrity cameos from musicians, Game of Thrones has actually been flirting with the line between "cute" and "distracting" for a while. The drummer from Coldplay played a drummer at the Red Wedding. Sigur Rós turned up to play a glacial rendition of "The Rains of Castamere" at Joffrey and Margaery’s wedding. Last year, the entirety of Of Monsters and Men popped up as musicians in a Braavosi theater troupe. And last night’s premiere even snuck in another musician cameo, with Mastodon’s Brann Dailor briefly appearing as a White Walker.

Still, there’s been nothing nearly as distracting as Ed Sheeran’s cameo—both because he’s by far the most recognizable performer to turn up in the show, and because the cameo begins with him leading a group of Lannister soldiers in a singalong for a full 30 seconds before Arya stumbles into their camp.

Sheeran actually gets just one line of dialogue in the whole scene. ("It’s a new one," in response to Arya calling his song pretty.) But his mere presence is impossible to ignore. There are two other Lannister soldiers who have much, more more to say than Sheeran does, but it’s hard not to distracted by the very recognizable multiplatinum singer-songwriter sitting in their midst the whole time.

And it’s a shame, because this was a pretty important scene! Coming almost immediately after the slaughter Arya orchestrated at the Twins, this chance encounter with a group of gentle, friendly Lannister soldiers is designed to challenge Arya’s entire kill-'em-all worldview. But as soon as Ed Sheeran appears, the subtext of the scene isn’t "Will Arya realize that the worldview that gives her life purpose will gradually turn her into what she's always hated?" It’s, "Hey! That's Ed Sheeran!"

Hollywood is always struggling with the tension between an actor’s talent and the baggage they bring to the role, and sometimes the gamble is worth it. If Harry Styles turned out to be the perfect actor to play a long-lost Stark kid or whatever, I’m sure Game of Thrones would cast him. (In fact, we’re about to see exactly how distracting a screen presence Styles can be when Dunkirk arrives on Friday.) But love him or hate him, it’s hard to argue that dropping Ed Sheeran into Game of Thrones like this did much for Game of Thrones or Ed Sheeran.

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